Yogscast Survival Games - Back and Bloody
by atomjenkins
Summary: An experiment in writing gory stuff. A retelling of the Yogscast Survival Games which took place in 2012, with some minor differences. To eliminate padding some characters will get more focus than others (but I assure you I watched all perspectives) but every death will be covered at least. Rated T for gore and language your mother will not like. Non-canon to The Demon Brothers.
1. X Wheel of Fortune

Ridgedog watched the tributes shifting uncomfortably in their glass cages – they nodded at their teammates, gorged themselves on cake, checked their chests, and discussed their tactics. As he flew overhead, preparing to strike the button to begin the games, he chuckled slightly.

Tactics? Pointless.

In the survival games, it was kill or be killed. There was nothing more to it, and nothing less. Ridgedog pondered the sheer diversity in the characters below him – a spaceman, a dwarf, a cyborg panda, a poolboy, a scientist, a wizard, a half-naked man, a musician, and many more – but that didn't matter. At the end of the games, all but one of the cowering tributes below him would be dead. They would either have to watch their friends get slaughtered or do it themselves.

How fun, he thought to himself, as he pressed the button to raise the platforms.

The 16 players clambered out of their cages and darted off, some to raid the centre for supplies, others simply to escape into the thick greenery on the edge of the spawn area.

Nilesy clambered out of his cage, struggling to heave himself out. Toppling onto the floor, he opened his chest and began stuffing his pockets with the contents, only to see Sjin thundering towards him, armed with a wooden sword, a steely glint of determination in his eyes.

"Ah, going for the kill, are we, Sjinny-boy?" Nilesy thought, getting to his feet and scanning the landscape for his partner, Panda, who might be able to assist Nilesy in defeating Sjin, or at least scare him away. Nilesy, spotting his friend, began to make his way towards him, but felt himself catching his foot on a feathery obstacle. "Fuck! Stupid chicken!" Nilesy thought as he fell to the floor.

Sjin, seizing the opportunity, struck the poolboy in the back repeatedly, driving his wooden blade through Nilesy's back, the horrible sound of blade piercing skin accompanied by Panda shouting from a few feet away, "Nilesy! Oh my God!" Rooted to the spot, he watched helplessly as his friend's blood began to stain the grass.

Sjin, his wild hair blowing in the wind, dripping with poolboy blood, drove his bloodied blade deep into poor Nilesy, who let out a final cry of pain before he was silenced. Seeking revenge, Panda jumped out from behind the trees and made a beeline for Sjin, his mechanical eye menacingly reflecting the sun's light.

Sjin, who had pulled his sword from the poolboy's corpse, saw no reason to stick around to be beaten to death by an angry bear cyborg, and so, with a cheeky grin and blood on his face, darted away to rejoin his partner, MintyMinute. Panda, wanting vengeance for his friend's death but keen to still make use of the chaos and panic surrounding him in order to slip away undetected, disappeared back into the forest, cursing Sjin under his breath.

Ridgedog swooped down and landed weightlessly next to Nilesy's corpse, his long coat billowing behind him in an invisible wind. Tutting disappointedly, he clicked his fingers and the body disappeared.

"If they're all this terrible, this will be no fun at all." He mused.

Ridgedog then pulled out a shiny gold loudspeaker from his infinitely large coat pockets. Taking off once again, he said into it; "Nilesy was slain by Sjin." and the message boomed around the entire arena, reinforcing an early grudge for some; and for others, making them quake as they thought about the possibility that they would be next. Satisfied, Ridgedog pulled out a stick from his coat pocket, which ignited the moment the sun's light touched it. Smiling evilly, he dropped it down into the park down below.

"Be advised, there has been a fire started in the park."

With flames beginning to sprout from the ground below him, swallowing the innocent swings and slide, Ridgedog drifted through the clouds peacefully, while below him, mere mortals were preparing for bloody battle.

The Survival Games had begun.


	2. VI The Lovers

Sjin let his partner, Minty, the more agile and spritely of the two, run on ahead, weaving in between the trees as she prepared to warn her partner of any incoming threat, be it mob or man.

As he strolled through the forest, relaxed despite keeping a hand on his sword, he thought about the competition. He'd killed Nilesy, but was Nilesy really a threat? Perhaps he should have used that time of disorientation to take out someone who was likely to become a threat, or at least someone who he had issues with – and there were plenty of them; Rythian and Lalna immediately sprang to mind. In fact, the more Sjin thought about it, the more his smile faded. He should have taken the advantage while he had it. By killing Nilesy, what had he really proven? By killing Rythian, what _could _he have proved? That he was a serious threat, unstoppable, going for champion? Most likely.

Now Sjin began wishing he had killed someone else – he'd had no real reason to go for Nilesy above any other tribute, he had no real problem with the poolboy, no real reason to slaughter him where he stood…

Sjin stopped and scolded himself. This was the Survival Games; 'kill or be killed', Ridge reminded them constantly. You didn't need a reason, you didn't need logic, you didn't need a conscious – in fact, those qualities had no place in a Survival Games champion. He'd killed Nilesy because he was the closest, and because Sjin was blinded by the thrill of the attack, the adrenaline from murder. That was what Ridge wanted to see. You didn't kill the ones you had a grudge against – you killed anyone and everyone.

The rustling of leaves and a cry that sounded like Minty's interrupted Sjin. As he rushed towards the source of the noise, he nearly fell headfirst into a pit, heading deep down into an abandoned mineshaft. He managed to swing his weight backwards before he went toppling over, stabbing his sword into the ground behind him to stop him from falling. As he stood back from the perilous edge – a lesson he'd learnt from previous Games was that standing on a high ledge was an invitation to send you flying off it – he saw the bright blonde hair of Minty far below him, and her golden helmet was somewhat of a blinding beacon in the sunlight. She caught sight of him and waved, clambering down from some thick vines which had obviously broken her fall. Sjin waved back and yelled down to her; "Are you okay? That's a pretty big hole."

"Yeah, I'm okay – there's vines. But there's a ton of mobs down here."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Sjin said, tucking his sword into his belt and leaping boldly down into the depths, catching the vines as he neared the bottom. Peeping about after his partner, he saw that the ground was lined with…

"Train tracks? Oh, we've found a train station!"

"And _a lot_ of mobs." Minty reminded him, pointing down the tunnel. In the darkness, shrouded in shadow, spiders began scuttling towards them, with skeletons stalking close behind. Sjin watched, transfixed for a moment, before he realized he should be dealing with them, as he had the only sword. He hacked and slashed while Minty swung her fists at them boldly. Though it didn't provide him with the same thrills as killing a tribute would, Sjin happily hacked and slashed through the bugs and bones, his skin continuously being splattered with blood. He giggled wildly as the monsters kept on piling out of the darkness, his giggles turning quickly into a maniacal laugh. When the monsters finally stopped, he continued to laugh, lowering his sword.

Minty stared uncomfortably at him, clutching her left arm, which was wet with scarlet. "I'm on like, one heart." She said, in an attempt to catch Sjin's attention. His laughter trailed off as he brushed spider's guts off his sword.

"Who needs hearts?" he said thoughtfully, "We could take out every one of those jokers, Minty. This sword's nearly worn out but I could destroy everybody in the Games – Xephos, Honeydew, Rythian, Lalna – oh, they're gonna die…" Sjin began to laugh again. "I'm gonna kill them all, I'm gonna win this thing…"

The ping of a bow and the splat of flesh made him stop.

He looked at Minty. She thudded against the ground, her blue eyes clouded and distant as blood seeped from the arrow that had pierced her chest, staining her faded green dress before forming a pool of blood on the stony floor. As she collapsed to the ground and slumped lifelessly to the floor, the thump echoing around the tunnel, Sjin sliced the skeleton to pieces with ease, before hurriedly plonking down torches. Then he stopped and stood there for a moment, in the silence, simply staring at his girlfriend's corpse.

"Minty…no…" was all he could say, his eyes fixated on her body, still beautiful even in permanent stillness. "No...I...I will...avenge you...I shall avenge you..."

A warm hand was suddenly on his shoulder. "Such a pity." A voice as sickly as honey said.

Ridgedog.

He clicked his fingers and Minty evaporated into smoke, leaving behind only a golden helmet, a steak and a stack of sandstone. Sjin did not move.

"What's up with you?" Ridgedog suddenly broke the silence, nudging Sjin playfully. "From what you were saying a minute ago, it sounded like you didn't need her anyway."

"Need and want are two very different things, Ridge." Sjin said, kneeling down and collecting the steak and stone.

"Oh, yes. If you _wanted_ to win the Games, you would have _needed_ to kill her anyway, wouldn't you? The skelly did you a favour, really, didn't he? Now, you don't have anything standing in your way, do you? Nothing to lose."

"That's what you wanted to see, isn't it? You want to see us all turn out like this. It's all worked out in your favor."

Ridgedog smiled sweetly. "It always does."

Sjin picked up the golden helmet and placed it on his head. He stood up and faced Ridgedog. "I'll do what you want, Ridge. I'll play your games; I'll be your pawn. I'll win this thing, but I'll do it to avenge Minty, not to satisfy you."

Ridgedog took out his megaphone and tutted at Sjin. "Noble words, Sjin. But they all say things like that. You'll regain your senses soon enough. If you win, it'll be on my terms." He began drifting down the tunnel, and his message, though broadcast underground, boomed around the arena for all to hear; "Minty was slain by Skeleton."

Sjin gritted his teeth in determination and stalked off down the tunnel. "On your terms my arse." He muttered, unaware that Ridgedog heard everything when it suited him, and even gave a mocking reply from the other end of the tunnel.

"I said _if _you win."


	3. XVI The Tower

Xephos scrambled up the side of a tall building, skillfully leaping from one clump of leaves to the other, clinging to sprawling vines when necessary. As he held on tight to the tangles of shrubbery, he glanced about cautiously from his high vantage point. From the building he could see the area he and his partner had come from; the central spawn point, with a pile of chests (which may or may not have been looted) that looked particularly inviting to this particular tribute, who had only been granted some torches and a pumpkin, and the latter had already slipped from his grasp. Thankfully, though, there were no actual players in the spawn area or on the road down below Xephos, which the Spaceman was thankful for, though he doubted anyone could seriously wound him – it would be extremely difficult to snipe him when he was this high up, if they were lucky enough to have both a bow and at least one arrow.

It had been a chaotic start to the Games, even by the usual standards – two deaths already, one of them only…what, ten seconds in? The tributes seemed to be baying for blood even more than usual today. Xephos tried not to let this bother him as he caught sight of his dwarven friend Honeydew waving up at him from the half collapsed stone floor down below. A huge black spider also gazed longingly up at him, its scarlet eyes hungry for spaceman blood.

"Hello, friend!" Xephos called to Honeydew, waving back enthusiastically, and beginning to clamber down to rejoin his friend. As he touched down, the spider leapt hungrily at him, but only managed to scratch the Spaceman's skin as Xephos took a less than desirable route down to the next floor. Xephos tumbled down, and picked himself up, as Honeydew barely managed to stifle a laugh. Xephos picked himself up and brushed bits of dust and stone off his new outfit – a brown coat over a crisp white shirt. It was this outfit's first outing, but it might be Xephos' last, which was a thought he quickly pushed to the back of his mind.

"Let's make our way out of here." Xephos said, venturing into the dark centre of the floor, searching for some stairs. Descending on the outside of the building, he had already discovered, was a far more perilous and risky alternative, even if the indoor structures were overgrown and mostly collapsed – they were still safer, especially since the thick stone walls held steady, and would protect the duo from incoming fire, or from even being seen in the first place.

Honeydew began to follow his friend, branching off left into a small room almost completely overgrown with vines and leaves. The Dwarf had barely entered through the collapsed archway before he let out a cry of fear, backing away from the room urgently, as a well-known green menace stalked towards him. "Ah, ah, oh God…oh God, Xephos!" the Dwarf cried, knowing full well that neither he nor Xephos were particularly skilled at dealing with Creepers, even when they had top-tier items. He didn't have to remind the Spaceman that neither of them had any kind of weapon to hand. Xephos provided a fairly effective, if cowardly, alternative;

"Ah! Oh God, ah, oh God…run away, run away!"

As the Dwarf let out a few more shrieks, Xephos turned and began to sprint back towards the other side of the room, but a lumbering zombie blocked his path. The Spaceman skidded to a halt and darted in another direction, the sound of his friend's panicked cries ringing in his eyes as he crashed into another Creeper, sneaking out from a dark corner.

The blast sent him tumbling backwards, landing spread-eagled on the cold stone bricked floor, the loud thump catching the attention of many more mobs. Xephos desperately tried to heave himself back up, his vision blurring, his heart thumping loud and fast. He managed to roll onto his front, catching a final sight of Honeydew thundering towards him before a skeleton's arrow punctured the Spaceman's eyeball, killing him instantly and splattering his foreign blood over a small portion of the floor and wall.

Honeydew stopped dead in his tracks, watching completely frozen as Xephos collapsed to the floor, blood pooling out from his head and wetting his brown hair; but seeing the skeleton abandon Xephos' corpse and start aiming for Honeydew instead made him remember that this was the Survival Games, and surviving was not something he would be doing if he stayed here for much longer. He caught hold of a vine and swung onto a tree a few feet below him, as he saw Ridgedog disappear into the floor he had just left. Alone.

Honeydew crouched down out of sight of any incoming players, sitting down surrounded by leaves as he struggled to hold back his tears. Had that really just happened? Was Xephos, his oldest friend…gone? It had all happened so fast.

But then again, this was the Survival Games. The name really was deceiving when the vast majority of tributes would be doing anything _but _surviving.

An announcement made him snap to attention.

"Xephos was shot by Skeleton."

The Dwarf could not deceive himself into believing that surviving was something he had done without Xephos before.


	4. VIII Justice

Sjin stalked down the tunnel with a vengeance against everyone competing in the Games, and every mob that dared to face his kinetic blade. Zombie after skeleton after spider fell to the side, slashed open as Sjin brushed the blood off his nearly broken sword. He couldn't be bothered to conserve his weapon, precious though it may be, when he was this angry.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a lit tunnel branching off from the main shaft lined with rails that he walked down now. Upon closer inspection, Sjin discovered that the tunnel headed upwards, as the majority of the light seemed to be streaming down from above rather than from any torches. Holding his own source of light up to the walls of the tunnel, Sjin saw that unlike the main shaft, this branch had walls of careless jagged edges, which had clearly been crudely cut away after some monotonous mining. Players had forged this pathway. Sjin was comforted by the presence of undisturbed vines and leaves growing in the tunnel – no one seemed to have walked this way in a long time.

Behind him, Sjin heard a gentle hissing noise. Instinctively he whipped around and sliced the Creeper across its bulging green body. It hiss was cut off but was quickly replaced by an angry snarl as the tribute gave it a hard kick, knocking it off balance and sending it staggering backwards, the ugly wound spewing blood. As Sjin saw a second Creeper emerging from the darkness behind it, he hacked apart a tangled web of vines which tried hard to conceal the entrance to the tunnel ascending upwards. He tossed a flaming torch out into the main shaft as he heard two sets of Creeper feet approaching him.

Fire is not the friend of a creature filled with gunpowder.

Sjin scrambled up the crude staircase made from piled lumps of rocks as half the underground tunnel was obliterated behind him, the metallic clangs of railway being ripped from the ground filling the air.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lomadia's elfin ears pricked. "What was that?" she said, in hushed tones.

"Uh…" Lalna said loudly, decidedly less concerned about being overheard, despite the deaths of three tributes already. "…don't know. Maybe it was a Creeper exploding?"

Lomadia nodded, unsure, but willing to accept that fairly standard occurrence rather than the possibility that traps had been laid, or some tributes had been granted TNT. The thought of one particular tribute being given TNT was enough to make her shiver.

She wandered around fairly aimlessly, uprooting mushrooms, with a little less enthusiasm than usual. Not that the Games were any cause for celebration, but Lalna had immediately noticed that Lomadia was acting more lost now that Xephos had died. Lalna, while a close friend of the Spaceman's, and sorry for his loss, had remained strong and stoic. It appeared he was better at accepting that everyone had to die in the Games than Lomadia. He was about to suggest she be grateful that Ridge had not planned it so that she and Xephos would be the last, forced to either die for their love or kill for their life, but he remembered that even though he and her were teammates, there could only be one, and he should try to stay on her good side. So instead he said;

"Let's have a look – come down this hole." He said, taking slow steps down the tunnel as he lit his torches.

"Come on then." Lomadia said with forced excitement, following the scientist down the cramped tunnel.

Lalna felt small vibrations in the rocks beneath him, growing larger and larger beneath his rubber gloves. He stopped descending the pathway and lowered his goggles onto his eyes, thankful that Ridge had not confiscated them, or given them to someone else to 'spice things up'. Through the rock wall, he saw the red outline of what looked like a tribute. As it came closer, it began to register in more detail – nearly broken sword, splatters of blood, wild hair, a loincloth...

Sjin.

As he placed the cups of his goggles back on his blonde hair, Lalna turned back to Lomadia. "Sjin is down here." He said, surprisingly nonchalantly. He'd fought with Sjin in the past, albeit with a little more science and a lot more at stake, but he didn't think he was anything to be overly worried about.

Lomadia let out a gasp. Lalna felt her tense all of a sudden, clutching at the rock ledge. "What?" she said, glancing back at the building they'd just come from worriedly.

"He's down here." Lalna repeated, pointing down the tunnel as he felt the vibrations growing increasingly strong. He turned and held his flaming torch down the tunnel threateningly. "D'ya wanna go for him?" Lalna said, keeping his eye on the tunnel. He saw a shadow cast on the wall down below.

Lomadia shrank back upwards. "I…I don't know…I…" she muttered fearfully, trailing off.

Lalna froze for a moment as he saw Sjin, battle-hardened, emerging from the tunnel below, covered in soot, blood of all different shades of red, a wooden sword which looked both lethal and ready to snap clenched tightly in his hand and a battered golden helmet sat on his mop of tangled brown hair. His eyes were hungry for blood as he caught sight of the scientist and began streaking towards them at a terrifying speed, sword ready to strike, ready to kill.

Lalna quickly retracted his torch and gave Lomadia a forceful nudge as he turned and began to scramble back out of the tunnel. "He's got a sword, he's got a _sword!_" he cried, as said sword struck him a couple of times in the ankle, hindering his escape only slightly as the scientist clambered out to safety. Sjin let out a roar and Lomadia let out a cry of fear and pain as she struggled to reach the scientist's outstretched hand in order to escape. Sjin laughed wildly and yanked her back by her long blonde hair. He paused for only a moment, thinking of Minty's similar hair, before he thought of it stained with blood and slit the poor elf's throat, snapping his sword in two as he did so.

Lalna could only watch as Lomadia's feeble cries turned into gurgles as blood filled her mouth and spilled as Sjin dropped her body to the floor, retreating, weaponless, back into the shadows.

Ridgedog watched the shaken scientist exit the building, limping slightly. The demigod laughed as he took off, swooping over the buildings and his pawns.

"Lomadia was slain by Sjin."

Ridgedog tucked his megaphone away, smiling a very toothy and very frightening smile.

"That's my boy."


	5. VII The Chariot

As terrifying as wandering the empty streets was for Lalna, hobbling along a smooth stone road, he much preferred it to the alternatives of scaling one of the buildings with his ankle, still throbbing with pain, or braving the underground tunnel system. Lalna had seen Sjin head back down there, and clearly Minty's death had scarred him, transformed him into a rampaging killer, so the scientist thought it smart to stay away from him – even if his sword had broken, he had managed to loot Lomadia's corpse, which meant he was now in possession of a flint and steel, a tool, Lalna had no doubt, Sjin would put to immediate and destructive use.

Honeydew was still a little shaken from his experience in the tower. After Xephos had been shot, Honeydew had managed to escape from the building, but not before a couple of spiders had decided to snap and snarl at him, delaying his escape and wounding him, though not too severely. Compared to their blue, cave-dwelling brothers, their venom was weak, and only made the Dwarf suffer from a little queasiness as he warily made his way down the road. Though he had hoped to save his precious food rations for later, his stomach objected by growling and grumbling insistently, and his head panged painfully in response. He was about to take a bite from a cooked porkchop when he noticed someone approaching him in the distance.

Lalna approached the dwarf cautiously, now knowing the effects the death of someone so close could have on people in these Games. Honeydew may have been his friend, but no one could be a closer friend than Xephos, who had been killed right in front of him, and although skeleton and Creeper may have been the cause of the spaceman's death, Lalna was as much an enemy to the dwarf as them, as was the dwarf to him. Honeydew stared back at him, equally unsure of how to react. Slowly, he raised his arms in a surrender, and tossed a porkchop onto the smooth stone road, in what Lalna hoped was a gesture of friendship rather than coaxing him into a false sense of security before betraying him. Lalna picked up the food and threw down his own food, a piece of chicken, which Honeydew graciously accepted.

As the two tucked into their food, feeling the strength of having eaten making their respective wounds heal up a little faster, and dulling the pain, Ridgedog landed neatly next to them, watching the exchange amusedly. The two tributes exchanged worried glances, as if Ridge would do something that would cause them to turn on each other. Ridge only smiled sweetly.

"Your partners will be pleased that you managed to form an alliance." He said, looking at each of them condescendingly, as though judging their actions, when his own were far more despicable.

"Our _former _partners, you mean." Honeydew said gruffly, taking the final bite of his chicken. The raw crunch was a little disgusting to chew on, but it was satisfying enough to get his strength back up.

"Our partners are dead." Lalna said bitterly, thinking of Xephos and Lomadia as a couple not in love, but in graves, as victims of the Games.

Ridge raised his eyebrows, and looked skyward as though deep in thought, which was a terrible sign. "I know. I cleared away the bodies."

_You're the one who dug their graves._ Lalna thought to himself, but didn't dare say it out loud, especially when he was in such a precarious position, and he knew the full extent of Ridge's power.

"No worries. I think you'll see them again soon enough." Ridge said, slowly and deliberately, as he rose gently into the air. "Remember – there can only be one."

Lalna and Honeydew looked at each other anxiously, as though they expected the other to suddenly whip out a sword and slaughter the other, but the only sound was Ridge's laughter as he flew away, disappearing very quickly into the blue haze of the sky.

Honeydew watched him disappear before turning to Lalna. "Let's stick together, friend." He said, preparing to continue down the road.

Lalna shrugged, buried his hands in his pockets, and followed the dwarf down the road. Neither of them said anything for a while, each lost in their own racing thoughts.

_I can always betray him later._


	6. XII The Hanged Man

Perhaps the most ideal candidate for the destruction of Sjin; Panda, having skillfully scaled the side of one of the tallest buildings in the arena, piercing the clouds, was now descending back down the side, clinging to the cool stone bricks as the wind howled in his eyes, making platforms of leaves disappear and reappear below his feet. It was all very off-putting, but Panda was a fairly skilled climber, and his metal claws allowed him to get a decent grip on the side of the building, wherever grooves and chinks in the bricks appeared. Dealing with plants was a little more tricky, as most of the building had been overgrown with slippery moss, and while sharpened claws proved useful in holding onto solid stone, they tore vines and leaves apart so easily it was as though they were intangible.

Panda was driven to focus on getting down safely by his vendetta against Sjin, as well as the fact that he had acquired perhaps the only means of stopping him by – he knew Sjin had a wooden sword, because Nilesy had been slain with it right in front of him – but now Panda had a gleaming iron sword slung over his back, strapped tightly in its holster.

Ridge heard little clanks of metal scraping stone from his vantage point a little way from the central spawn area, a huge stone structure in the centre of the starting area. Even from so far away, his superior eyesight could see Panda clambering down from the tower, and caught the glint of his weapon in the sunlight. Curious, the demigod flew over there, making himself invisible as he did so, though that only increased the suspicion of those who saw him fly overhead and then evaporate into thin air.

Ridgedog landed on an outcrop of the building, watching the panda-machine hybrid climbing down from the building, the glint of his iron sword instantly attracting his attention, like how a magpie is drawn to all things silver and shiny.

Ridge fluttered down so he was on the same level as the oblivious Panda, still climbing down the bricks. For once, Ridge was wary of the tribute – the demigod knew what a lust for revenge could drive people to; it was what he had been counting on Sjin doing. But Ridge now realized that, at the rate Panda was going, there was a very real chance of Panda slaughtering Sjin before the fun even got started.

"Hybridpanda45 hit the ground too hard."

Panda stopped his descent by quickly finding a decent place for his feet to rest and his hands to grip. He peered into the sky, confused at the announcement.

"Hey, I'm not dead! I'm right here!" he called up the side of the building, though he didn't expect anyone to hear him – he was hundreds of feet in the air and the wind whipped most of his words away anyway.

He was most surprised, then, when he received a response.

"So you are. Better fix that, then." A smooth voice said.

Panda looked around, frightened, tempted to draw his sword – but at what? The voice had come from nowhere in particular, and there was no one around him – he was halfway up a skyscraper. Who could have possibly…?

Ridge materialized mere feet away from him, hovering in midair, tutting disapprovingly but still with that same stupid smile on his face, same hungry glint in his eyes. Panda made to draw his sword, but Ridge suddenly had hold of his wrists, clasping with unmatchable strength, cutting off Panda's circulation in one wrist and nearly crushing the structure of the other. Panda's feet scrabbled and scraped as they struggled to regain a hold on the building, but Ridge yanked him off the side with a terrifyingly brutal force, now holding Panda's neck and his mechanical wrist in his uncaring grasp. The mechanical panda choked and coughed, struggling against the demigod's unbeatable strength. Panda gazed up, his vision blurring as he struggled to draw breath. Ridge sneered at him, his eyes heartless and shiny, his grin growing wider and more wolfish.

Panda's last thought was of sorrow – how he was sorry that he could not avenge Nilesy's slaughter, how he followed him into the afterlife so soon after swearing that justice would be served, and the one who had murdered his friend still walked free, triumphant, no doubt preparing to take the lives of more innocents, with a demonic demigod watching over him.

Panda then realized that that wasn't a game he wanted to play anymore. Death was like a well earned rest, rather than something to be feared. He would be with his poolboy friend soon. And how could that ever be worse than the Games?

Ridge watched, content, as the cyborg panda smacked into the stone floor, his metal appendages and his once valiant iron sword clanging loudly against the mossy stone bricks, accompanied by the cracking of bones and the splitting of scaffolds. He saw the light fade from the panda's eyes as he joined his fallen friends on the Edgeworld. As Ridge clicked his fingers and headed back to the centre spawn area, he muttered to himself.

"No pawn can stand in the way of a king."


End file.
